40 Years: Commemorating the 1978 Priesthood and Temple Revelation
Brigham Young University
Friday, October 12, 2018
9 AM—3:15 PM
Varsity Theater
On June 1, 1978 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints extended priesthood ordination and full temple participation to members of African descent. Forty years later, scholars and students gathered at Brigham Young University to discuss the contexts of the restriction’s origins and the landmark revelation that lifted them, the revelation’s international dimensions, and the meaning of the revelation for today’s Church.
SESSION I: 19TH- AND 20TH-CENTURY CONTEXTS
Welcome and Chair: Spencer Fluhman, BYU
Janan Graham-Russell, Harvard Divinity School
Paul Reeve, University of Utah
Commentator: Lerone Martin, Washington University in St. Louis
Panel Q&A
SESSION II: INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS
Chair and Commentator: Leslie Hadfield, BYU
Emmanuel Abu Kissi, Medical officer and LDS Area Authority Emeritus, Ghana
Marcus Martins, BYU-Hawaii
Khumbulani Mdletshe, Church history advisor for Africa, Church History Department
Panel Q&A
SESSION III: IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY’S CHURCH
Chair and Commentator: Jacob Rugh, BYU
Cathy Stokes, Early African American convert
Marvin Perkins, Early African American convert
Ryan Gabriel, BYU
Déborah Aléxis, BYU student